Nightly Strolls
by 157yrs
Summary: Chihiro finds that after a hard day of chores, having Haku's company is just what she needs. Light Fluff. *old post*


Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away

Work was never one of Chihiro's strong points. If anything, it was one of her weak points. So when she was the last one left to finish the task of scrubbing the hosting floors, it came of no surprise.

As was a rule, everyone had been assigned his or her daily duty. Today just happened to be the day when everyone was given a private hosting room to clean.

Since Chihiro was Rin's assistant, she was to help her. The two had decided to split the room in half. Unfortunately for Chihiro, Rin finished her side over three hours ago, leaving Chihiro to scrub her half of the room all alone.

It was a very common task, but Chihiro found herself exhausted. To top it all of, she had run out of cleaning rags and still had a fourth to go before she was finished.

Being so caught up in the chore, the poor human girl lost track of time and failed to notice that the floor was slowly being silenced as the last toad finished his room and left for the night.

"Sen!" Shouted Rin from apparently now where. Chihiro jumped from the interruption of the accustomed silence.

'_I forgot, that's my name now.' _She thought absently.

"Yes?" She asked, not bothering to get up from where she kneeled on the floor, scrubbing away at a stubborn spot.

"Are you almost finished?" Chihiro shook her head and continued on.

"Well hurry up! This is the last and easiest chore for the day. It shouldn't take you this long." Not knowing how to reply, Chihiro ignored her.

"Once you're finished, you can retire. You're the last one down here, so don't forget to close all of the hosting rooms." Chihiro stopped to turn around.

"I took the liberty of turning out all the lights on this floor, except this room." She babbled as she turned to leave.

"Thank you, Rin." The girl said smiling, appreciating the extra help. Rin stopped and turned around one last time.

"How much more do you have left?" She asked. Chihiro sighed and gestured with her hand.

"Just that corner left." Rin nodded seriously, before leaving.

"Well, hurry it up." Chihiro rolled her eyes.

"I may be a little late. I ran out of rags and I have to go down to the storage room to get more!" She shouted, hoping Rin had heard her. There was no response, so Chihiro continued.

After about ten more minutes, Chihiro realized that she had to go get three more cleaning rags to finish polishing the corner. Sighing, she got up and made her way over to the door, realizing how dark and empty the floor truly was.

"Hello?" She shouted out, hoping she wasn't alone. She frowned when she heard only the echo of her voice.

"Is something wrong, Sen?" Asked a voice from behind. Chihiro jumped at the noise and turned around, only to find a smiling Haku behind her.

"Oh Haku, you scared me." She said returning his smile. Her gaze traveled down a bit before she noticed that he was holding something in his hand.

Realizing that her gaze was on him, Haku lifted his hand to reveal three cleaning rags.

"I hope you don't mind, but I couldn't help but notice you were out of cleaning rags." He answered smoothly. Before handing her them. A shiver ran up Chihiro's spine from the contact when Haku's hand brushed against hers, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Thank you." She said smiling before turning around and running back over to the corner to finish her chores.

"Are you the only one down here?" He asked while peering around.

"Ya, but I'm almost done." She answered from inside the room. Haku nodded and went in.

"Did you clean this all by yourself?" He asked, wondering where the heck Rin was. Chihiro grabbed the second cleaning cloth after disposing the first one.

"No, Rin was here earlier but she finished before me and left to go get dinner and some rest." Haku frowned.

"How long ago was that?" Chihiro disposed of the second rag before grabbing the last one.

"About three hours ago." Haku raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"And she just left you here, alone." The human girl nodded from where she kneeled on the floor where she polished the last remnants of the corner.

"Did she bring you any dinner?" He asked, gaining control over his surprised voice.

"No, but I wasn't really hungry at the time." She waved her hand dismissively before standing up.

"Thanks again for the cleaning rags. I'm finished now." Before she gathered up her now dirty bucket of water.

"Here, let me help you with that." Haku said as he snatched the bucket away from her and made his way to the back door.

"Oh you don't have to do that!" She protested. Haku shrugged before opening the door and emptying the bucket.

"It's alright. You must be pretty tired for cleaning all this up without any food." Chihiro was about to protest again, but her stomach took that time to answer for her.

Embarrassed, Chihiro took the bucket from Haku and snatched away all the used rags up and placed them in the bucket.

"Thanks for all your help." She said, bowing slightly. Haku smiled and reached into his shirt and pulled out some more of those delicious rice balls.

"Before you go, I thought you might like some." Surprised, the girl accepted the rice balls. There were three.

"Thanks, you didn't have to do that." She said. Haku reached over and took command of the bucket so she could have a better hold on her food.

"Being as late as it is, I doubt there would be any food left." He reasoned. Chihiro nodded and the two left the room.

"By the way, what are you doing down here?" She asked. Despite it being only two days into her job, she hardly ever saw Haku. Never once had she found him in the hosting rooms corridor.

Haku shrugged.

The two slowed down a bit when the reached the elevator at the end of the hallway.

"What do you humans call it? A nightly stroll?" He answered friendly. Chihiro paused and looked down the hallway remembering that she had to close all the hosting room's doors. She was pleasantly surprised to find all the doors closed.

"It seems you did a lot on your nightly stroll." She mused. Haku shifted with what looked like nervousness, before shrugging.

"Well, you seemed pretty busy." He mumbled out, before sparing her a quick glance.

"Well, I look forward to seeing more of you on these _nightly strolls._" She humored. Haku stiffened a bit, but decided not to reply. Nervously, he looked around the hallway.

"Of course. Now, if you'll excuse me." He said, before turning around and swiftly making his way to the other, far side of the hallway where sets of stairs were.

Chihiro smiled as she watched him go, before she realized that he had taken her bucket. For a moment she debated running after him and demanding her bucket back, but eventually voted against it.

He would no doubt put it in its proper place.

"Good night." She yelled suddenly, before running into the elevator and closing the door.

Haku smiled from the base of the stairs as he watched her go, before whispering,

"Good night."


End file.
